Five And One
by Diaphanous
Summary: Five times Zack Fair died and the one time he was saved.


**Five and One**

**Disclaimer**: No own. AUs for everybody! And don't cry too much.

000

_Une_

Zack coughed, blood dribbling down his chin. He looked up at his mentor with horrified blue eyes. And through his belly was the Buster Sword.

"Why?" Zack choked out.

Angeal did not answer right away. Instead he pulled his sword out of the boy's body. He watched with blank eyes as his former SOLDIER apprentice died at his feet.

"Because I am a monster…"

000

_Deux_

The clang of swords meeting echoed in the air. Bullets screamed and foot soldiers cried out. The muddy field soaked up the rain. The air stank with the metallic tang of blood and piss and gunpowder. The Wutainese was winning for once. There were too few SOLDIERs and too few infantry.

And a traitor in their midst.

"Why?!" Sephiroth demanded of the man dying at his feet.

Zack smiled grimly. "My mother was Wutainese," he said. "And Shin-ra killed her."

The light faded from his eyes.

000

_Trois_

Zack slammed his back against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor. His arm was wrapped tightly around his seeping middle. He was holding his innards it with just his forearm and a prayer. In his free hand he held his broad sword.

"Any last words?" Tseng asked coolly.

"No."

"Oh? Why?"

Zack blinked slowly and let out a gasping laugh. "You ain't worth the effort for something witty," he retorted.

One last bullet was planted into his brain.

000

_Quatre_

The enemies surrounded them in a ring. Zack and Cloud, both young Third Class SOLDIERs, stood back-to-back.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" Cloud said.

"Probably," Zack replied. He shrugged his shoulders. "Why worry about it?"

"Why?" The blond eyed the blood-thirsty men around them. "Never mind. Let's go out with a bang."

"Good plan."

The Shin-ra reinforcements were too late when they arrived.

000

_Cinq_

Hojo frowned in disgust at the heaving body dying on his surgery table. His frown deepened when the specimen started to scream and gasp and gurgle on its own spit. "Why? Why is this one failing?" he muttered. The scientist ignored the frantically beeping machines and flashing lights. He would wait a bit more. Perhaps the death spasms would not last long. The seizures grew more violent while it went bit off its tongue. Blood filled its mouth as it made choking sounds.

So the mad-man watched calmly as the strapped down specimen arched one last time and then collapsed. The heart monitor let out a shriek as the experiment flat-lined.

Cloud let out a wail of despair as he watched Zack gurgled out one last breath.

000

_Moins Une_

The guns were cocked and aimed. Zack stared at them, his blood sluggishly slithering down his body and mixing with his sweat. The air was stifling and expectant. Behind him were the cliffs and a comatose Cloud. Beyond the cliffs was the mighty city of Midgar.

"End of the road, Fair," the infantry leader called.

Zack looked sad. "Why won't you let us go? You were my friend, weren't you Jensen?" he addressed the leader. "Why?"

"My hide or yours, Fair. And I prefer to live."

"And I prefer that you die," another voice said.

Zack jerked his head to the side and his glowing eyes widened. "Cloud?" he gasped.

But this Cloud was clearly older and wearing a different outfit. A strange sword that seemed to be made of several different, interlocking blades was gripped in his gloved hand.

"Who the fuck are you?" Jensen demanded. The guns were now pointed at Cloud-who-couldn't be-Cloud.

The blond, older and harder than the drooling mess hidden behind the rocks, smiled. "My name is Cloud Strife," he said. "And I won't let you kill my friend." And before the infantrymen could fire on him, he whirled into action and cut down the whole platoon. Once this different Cloud stopped, a ring of dead bodies littered the ground.

"Cloud?" Zack called out plaintively. The older man looked up and his face softened into a sad smile. A sad smile that was so familiar that it hurt.

"We're friends, aren't we?"

000

**END**

Yes, I killed Zack five times. No, don't hurt me. But time-traveler!Cloud saved his butt in the end. Yay!

I love these five and one fics and I know I'm a lot of late with this one but meh. Kk, laterz!


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